Comic book bodies, again

This is a link to pics of the finalists in the Marvel costume contest--real people dressed up in their own versions of Marvel Comics superhero costumes. Many of the costumes are really nicely done, but they still don't really look like the heroes in question.

This is when you really see how far from reality comic book bodies are--when you see real bodies trying to wear comic book costumes.

Some of this is because real spandex doesnt fit the same way that comic-book spandex does--even if the wearer is muscular, actual spandex doesn't reveal your pecs and abs the way it does in the comics.

Some of this is because the person wearing the outfit doesn't really look much like the hero in question--they're not really all that fit, for example.

But in some cases the wearer is actually in pretty good physical condition, but the costume still looks strange on an in-shape real body. The guy wearing the Punisher outfit, for example, seems to be pretty fit--just not compared to the way Frank Castle is drawn.

Even where they come closest, the Phoenix or Black Widow costumes--both being worn by fit young women--it's pretty obvious that real people just don't have superhero bodies. In the costume their waists seem thick, their legs short--because you're used to seeing unusually slender waists and unnaturally long legs when you see that costume, their perfectly normal and by-most-standards attractive proportions seem off.